Rosary bracelets

 I was looking at jewelry in Pinterest and saw some people making Rosary bracelets.  So I have made a few for different Catholic friends babies and grandbabies.  I have a couple more to make for a couple of friends.  I really like making them.

Faux leather and other notebooks

 I love making personalized notebooks for friends and family.  Here are some I have made in the past 5 years:

3D Cards

 If you have not made a 3 D card yet, you really need to make one.  The set up is not hard, it just takes some time.  This is the video I watched to make it.  There is some confusion about the middle tubes, so be aware of that when you make your own, but she really explains it well.  I will show you the cards I have made below.  So much fun.  I have always used Graphic 45 paper to make these, I feel they have more color and visual texture to them.

This is the link to Amy Kinler

2023 Christmas Cards

 I always have an inspiration card that I find in Pinterest.  I will post my inspiration card when I can find it again.  

When creating these cards, the layouts are the same. The cardstock may be different and the way the card is completed may be different, but the process is still the same to make it. 

The first step to make this card was to decide the size.  Most cards I make will be 5.5" x 4.25".  This size is standard for most cards and easy to find envelopes for and they take only 1 stamp unless they have too many layers on them.

Because of the layers with the envelope point at the top of the card, I needed to make a template that looked balanced for the card.  The templates to the left are what I developed.  The bottom template is 4.25" x 4" with the angle I liked.  The next layer is 4" x 3.75".   The top layer is 3.75" x 3.5".  Each layer will set a

similar distance from the previous layer.  I can tell on mine I was off some, but that is not something I worry about much.  If it concerns you, then adjust as needed.  The base cardstock is 5.5" x 4.25" and the next layer would be 5.25" x 4" if you want a 2nd layer.

The die cuts I used for the Christmas Tree, the Joy to the World, and the Christmas Wishes sentiments are all from Simply Refined. Stacey makes wonderful products and you can find her online at Scrapbooking Made Simple.  This was her latest video when I made this post here.

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Christmas Wishes #53128

Joy to the World     #53129

                                          Poinsettia Bouquet #53130      *****More info below

  The stamps used for this card was Stampin' Up Christmas Gleaming set that also uses their matching ornament punch.   The sentiment was an off brand stamp I found at a random store and I do not have the cover telling me where I got it at.  So sorry about that because it has become a favorite sentiment stamp for me.    Merry Christmas and Many Blessing for 2024!

I did make a 2nd card style that I had made card kits for last year and just made this year.  I did not take many pics of them, but here is one:

Again the base is 5.5" x 4.25".  I used an Ivory cs for the base, the next layer was a green designer paper measuring 5" x 3.75".  The kraft cs is 3.75" x 2.25" and the golden designer paper is 3.75" x 2".  The items used to decorate the card are digital labels purchased from Vectoria Designs.  You can go to her Etsy store here.

More Christmas cards

This is the last batch of cards I made in the previous 2 years since we were locked down and dealt with that isolation.  The pinwheel cards followed the same process mentioned in the previous post and the large ornament used the Spellbinders 2010 Heirloom Ornament die set with different designer papers used to showcase them.  The top 5 cards with the Christmas trees were created with my cricut and cut apart and placed on the red cs and layered on the dotted design paper.  The maroon paper was embossed with an embossing folder and the Stampin' Up ornament punch was used to punch out an ornament.  Next, designer scrap paper was placed behind the leftover space.  The beautiful design on the side is from a die cut set, I think it is from Ultimate Craft, but I will find it and edit this post to show where it is from.  The Joy to The World Stamp is a Hobby Lobby stamp.  The Poinsettia stamp at the top right is a Close to My Heart stamp that I heat embossed with white embossing powder.  It is a huge stamp, but I do love to use it.  I know that it is a retired stamp.  The card with the black cardstock outlining the center of the card is basically two 3" x 3" squares with rounded corners laid perpendicular to each other.  Next, eight 2" squares from designer paper were placed into each corner, overlapping each other all the way around.  A ornament punch that was embossed and colored with ink was placed in the middle.  A sentiment was used to complete the card.  If you have any questions about a technique or measurements to make any of these cards, please let me know.

 

Using Christmas Paper and leftovers for Christmas Cards

The joy with these cards is that I did very little to create them, the paper did all of the work.  The top three cards, I use a quilt cut out from a 12 x 12 Christmas paper pad that I have had for a while.  I decided to clear out my old papers with all of these cute cut outs that I had never used and these and the following cards are the result of the cardmaking binge. All of these cards will be 5.5" x 4.25". On the quilting card I only had to use my sentiment and an oval punch.  For the "Christmas Memories"  again the sentiment and oval punch were used.  The next card only used cut outs.  The Noel card  used a foam snowflake as well as the cutout.

All of quilt cards again used the same treatment mentioned above.  The 2 cards with stockings also used cutouts only as did the top right card with a notecard on it.  The 5 cards in the last 2 rows also used cutouts to complete them.  Truly, I almost felt like I was cheating when I made these cards.  Very quick to make, but really looked nice.  Did not have the texture and dimension I like in my cards, but it had the country feel I like in my cards.

In this batch of cards, the HUGE Merry Christmas, the Dec 25, the stocking card, and the 2 end cards on the next to the bottom row are completed with cut outs with a sticker.  The rest of the cards were made from leftovers from previous years Christmas cards.  I love to use ornaments and the one you see here is a Spellbinder 2010 Heirloom Ornament die cut.  I used it to cut out music paper for a card I did one year.  I also have used my die cuts to make poinsettias and I always make extras, so I used my leftovers to decorate on these cards.  The sentiment die cuts I used above are  "Be Merry" from Ultimate crafts ULT157687; "Merry Christmas Garland" from Memory Box #99548.  I have not listed the other die cuts because I do not have them near me, not sure where they are. 

The cards made with hexagons were made with the hexagon punch from Fiskars and again using scrap paper, I punched out a lot of hexagons and then making sure to not have matching paper next to each other I placed them on kraft cs 5.25" x 4" run through a corrugator tool that was adhered to the red cs base. A hexagon with the bottom cut off was the base of the tree and it was finished off when I tied a double bow and placed it on top of the tree. 

The cards with the ornament on a snowflake has a sentiment that is a favorite of mine which I found probably at Tuesday morning. I looked and the cover is gone, so I do not know the manufacturer.  The ornament is a punch from Stampin' Up.  The punch and foam ornament is layered on a 2.5" x 4" banner style red b&t paper.  Under this and perpendicular to it is a 2.5" white b&t paper with colored dots centered on 2.75" red cs.

The pinwheel cards are created on a 4" x 4" base using 2" squares with 2 cut in half diagonally and 2 cut into quarters diagonally.  The halves are arranged to form the large pinwheel and the other 2 colors are arranged in the correct order to finish off the pinwheel.  A poinsettia sticker was used to finish the card with a sentiment.

The Be Merry cards used a 5.25"  4" red cs centered over the card base.  A 4.25" x 3" of green b&t paper with a 1" x 34" strip green cs with a scallop edge adhered to the bottom edge will be centered on the page.  Next layer 2.75" x 2.75" cs on a 3" x 3" green cs and center within the red cs on the top of the card.  Cut a 1" x 2.25" green b&t paper into a banner and line up with the top of the card and leave a 1/4" gap on the 2.75" white cs on the right.  Take a 1" strip of red cs use scallop punch.  Cut a width to place on the green banner.  Stamp and cut out a tree to place in the 2.75" x 2.75" white square with room for the sentiment below it in red.

I do not have directions for the other 3 cards in the picture.  2 of them I found on pinterest and I did my own measurements to create them, but did not write them down.  The one in white and red with the Christmas tree, I made over 50 of them.  The tree is a cutout I got from some place cards I got at a garage sale.  They were so pretty, I knew I would do something with them.  I will remake these and write down the directions, but it was labor intensive. I made these for my staff at school and they are definitely worth it! 

 

Using Scraps on a Christmas Card

This red cs base is 5.5' x 4.25" and the next layer is white cs 4" x 5.25".  The sentiment is stamped in red ink on white cs and whatever size you cut the sentiment to, add a half inch to the top and end for the red cs size and center the sentiment and place on the card after you complete the designed paper layering. I took 1/2" of different designer papers (all scraps) and after laying the first strip down at the angle I wanted and placed it as close to the center as I wanted it, the next strip was then placed at a 90 degree angle with a slight gap and then I eye balled placing the next layers at 90 degree angles working up to the top.  Is this perfect?  No.  But I did not expect it to be and if you want it to be, do not do this card, it will drive you crazy.  You can mark it off with a quilting ruler and pencil if you really want to, but to me paper crafting is for fun, not to stress me out.  BUT, you do you and enjoy the process, however it makes you happy!  I use an ATG adhesive for my projects, but use what you have and feel comfortable with, as always with crafting, no right or wrong way to do it.

 

Double Twisted Ribbon Christmas Card

            

When creating these Christmas cards, I went to Youtube and found a video on creating this double twisted ribbon effect.  The person who explained this technique clearly for me was Terri Gaines and the link to her video is here.  My standard card size is 5.5" x 4.25".  The double twisted ribbon is on a 2" x 5.5" piece of white cs and layered onto a 2.25" x 5.5" piece of green cs.  I have a die for the JOY sentiment, but please use whatever you have available to use, whether a stamp, a sticker or a die cut. Always make use of your stash or supplies first.  I have a large supply of die cuts that I use with my cuttlebug, but I also have a cricut that I utilize when I am making a large amount of cutouts like I did with the holly leaves in different sizes that I used on this card.  I just cut out a few 12 x 12 pages worth of holly leaves in  2 or 3 sizes and store them in small zip lock bags.  I really like to use poinsettias on my cards and use holly leaves with the poinsettias or by themselves on ornaments to decorate my cards.  The poinsettia is created from one of a couple of die cut sets that I have.  The main reason I like the double twisted ribbon card besides the beautiful result, is that it is an easy way to use up small strips of gorgeous paper that you hate to throw away, but do not know how to use up.        

 

Piano jewelry box

A few years ago, I made a pirate's chest as a graduation gift for one of my nieces.  This year her sister graduated and because of her love of music, I made her a piano box.

As you can see the top raises to disclose a place for jewelry or whatever.

At the front of the piano is a drawer with a chain pull.

On the side of the piano and under it there are 3 drawers.

To make this box, I drew the shape that I wanted for the piano and cut out 2 heavy chipboard pieces in this shape.  I cut a few pieces of 2 inch strip from lightweight chipboard and using construction strips attached the chipboard to one piano shape.  I sectioned off a rectangle with heavy chipboard on the inside of the piano to form the drawer box.  Next I added the top of the drawer box.  I attached the other heavy chipboard to the top with construction strips.  Next, I built the drawer boxes to fit under the piano.  After that I built the 4 drawers.  Finally, I decorated everything with designer paper...the part that is very difficult for me to do and takes me the longest to complete.  Congratulations, Krista on your graduation and taking the next steps in your musical career.

O Christmas Card

Note:  I have duplicated this post on my new website:  JSS Journeys

I am always looking for ways to motivate me to start making my Christmas cards early so that I am not mailing them out on Christmas Eve as I have done so many times in the past!  So as an incentive to start early, I asked my Sunday School class  in August if they would like to have a Christmas Card workshop to make cards.  They thought it would be a great idea, especially as a lot of them had never made their own cards.  We set up a date in November and so my task began.  I had two criteria in making card kits for the workshop...
              1. I wanted to use up my Christmas paper scraps and
              2. I wanted them simple enough to make in bulk

My first stop was Pinterest.  Wow, there are a lot of talented people who love to share their ideas!!  I set up a Christmas Board to house my finds and if you would like to see it, you can find it here.

The trouble that I had was picking just a few cards to make, I think I ended up with about 10 different cards to make, more or less!!  I made around 20 kits per card to make sure the ladies could make more than one of the same card if they wanted.  Each card set was put in a sandwich baggy and all of them put in gallon zip lock bags with a sample.  I tried to stick with cards that used paper strips, but there were a few that I just could not resist that did not use strips.

A great benefit of making these kits up is I was able to make my cards from the leftover kits...a win - win for me.  This would be a great project to start now for next year.

All of the card bases are 4.25 inches by 5.5 inches.

Card #1:  

                   Black cardstock:   1 - 4.25" x 5.5"
                                                 2 - 1.25" x 4.5"
                                                 1 - 2.25" x 5.25"
                                                 1 - 4.25" x width of sentiment plus .25"
                   Christmas b&t:     1 - 4" x 5.25"
                                                 2 - 1" x 4.25"
                                                 1 - 2" x 5"
                   White cardstock:   1 sentiment - 4" x width of sentiment

Card #2:                                                

                   Christmas b&t:    4 - 1" x 4"
                   Berry colored cardstock:  1.25" x 4.25"

                   For this Poinsettia I used leaves cut out from red paper using my cricut.  For the kits, I    used my spellbinder poinsettia die.  If you have a leaf punch, that would work also.  I used a stylus to add texture to the leaves and then arranged into the poinsettia shape.  I added bling for the center of the poinsettia.

Card #3 and #4:        

These 2 cards are made the same way, the only difference is the buckle and holly leaves.
              Red b&t:    4 - 1" x 5"    Note:  I trimmed these strips a little bit to fit the paper
              Black or patterned paper:   1.25" x 4.25"

              Card 3:    Silver metallic paper cut in square 1.5" x 2" or a punch for shape
                              Black cardstock:  1.25" x 1.75" (add inside silver for belt piece)

               Card 4:    Stamp and cut out or die cut holly leaves 3 - 5 as desired
                               Bling or punched circles for holly berries


Card #5:

                 Blue b&t:     4" x 5.25"
                 White cardstock:   1 -  1 11/16" circle
                                                   1 -  1 1/4" circle            
                                                   1 - 2" circle
                                                   1 - oval for sentiment
                 Brown cardstock:  MS branch punch - trimmed to twigs for hands
                 Orange cardstock:  small triangle for nose
                 Black marker for eyes, mouth and buttons
                 red ribbon
                 foam tape or pop dots to pop up the circle for the head to tie ribbon
         Note:  I used my cricut to multi cut the circles...much faster.

Card #6:

               Red cardstock:  4.25" x 5.5"
               White cardstock:  4" x 5.25"  - embossed with Candy Cane embossing folder
               Christmas b&t:  1 - 1' x 4"
                                          1 - 1" x 2.75"
                                          1 - 1" x 3.25"
               White cardstock:  stamped with sentiment and punched
               Green cardstock:  option to punch MS branch punch with red bling

Card #7:

               Green cardstock:  1 - 4.25" x 5.5"
                                            1 - 3" x 4.5"
               White cardstock:  1 - 4" x 5.25" embossed with swiss dots embossing
                                                                   folder
                                            1 - 2.75" x 4.25"  embossed with Intricate swirl or preferred
                                                                          embossing folder
                                            1 - oval punched sentiment
               Green ribbon


Card #8:

              Red cardstock or b&t:  4.25" x 5.5" embossed with holly ribbon embossing
                                                                               folder
              White cardstock:    Option to stamp and punch the letters "J" "O" "Y"
                                                           or chipboard letters
                                              Poinsettia die cut or white leaves to make poinsettia  

Card #9:

               Green cardstock:  4.25" x 5.5"
                                             tag with white cardstock sentiment
               White cardstock:  3.75" x 5.25" embossed with sheet music embossing
                                                               folder cut into 3 strips about 1 1/8" wide
               Green ribbon

Card #10:

               Red cardstock:  4.25" x 5.58"
               White cardstock:  4" x 5.25" embossed with Lattice Squares embossing
                                                              folder
                                            small tag with sentiment
               Christmas b&t:  1.5" x 2"
                                          1.5" x 1.5"
                                          1.75" x 3"
               Green cardstock:  scrap piece cut with decorative scissors
               Red Ribbon


Products used on cards:
                Paper:  Close to My Heart, The Paper Studio, Michael's
                Stamps and Stamp Pads:  Close to My Heart
                Punches:  We R Memory Keepers, Martha Stewart, Stampin' Up
                Embossing Folders:  Darice, Sizzix, Cuttlebug
                Dies and Die Cuts:  Spellbinders, Cricut
                Ribbon:  Joann's, Michael's, Hobby Lobby
                Bling:  Want2Scrap

Anniversary Gift

Some wonderful people that I know are celebrating 60 years of Marriage.  Their children and grandchildren hosted an anniversary party for them.  They requested no gifts, but as I was making this card for them,

I realized that they would be receiving a lot of cards from family and friends to acknowledge this Wonderful Anniversary.  That gave me the idea to make what I am calling a "card book".  I took a hardback book that I had for altering and cut out the pages.  I next made a hidden hinge base that I backed with lightweight chipboard for stability and attached to the spine area of the book cover.
I used the measurements of the book pages to cut decorative pages to cover the edges of the hinge and inside of the book.  Next I covered the outside of the book cover with paper, flowers, lace and beading.  After that was done, I attached cardstock to the hinges and then added four hinges to each page to attach cards to so there will be one place to see all of the Anniversary cards they received.